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see case study below
client
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Grid110 is a non-profit accelerator that provides mentoring and resources for early-stage entrepreneurs through cohort-based programs. Their goal is to activate community and make Downtown Los Angeles the next tech hub.
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Duration
3 Weeks Project Type Pro Bono Client Project Responsibilities Project Manage UX Design Team Members Michaela Lange Tinnie Choi Nicole Doan |
Challenge
Our client came to us looking for an integrated web solution to build the bridges of communication between their cohorts to alleviate their heavy workload. Project Summary We worked with our client to understand their business goal, mapped out their organization eco-system, researched and synthesized our findings before deciding on the MVP - streamline their on-boarding process for cohorts and provide alternative interaction pathways among the Grid110 network. |
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we streamlined their on boarding process and helped built bridges within the trusted Grid110 network.
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our approach
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whiteboard session to map out their current business ecosystem.
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behind the scene |
Upon meeting with our client from Grid110, Miki and Alex, we jumped on the whiteboard to map out their current ecosystem. It helped us understand who they are and see where is their pain points and needs. Questions that came up such as, what is Grid110’s cohort/founders gives and gets? Why do they need an integrated platform? We then set out to interview their current and past cohorts. We also invite many who are inside or outside of the cohort program to help us filled out an extensive survey.
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SURVEY HIGHLIGHT
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For contextual inquiry, we used affinity mapping to synthesized the areas that are most in needed of attention such as “Connecting and keeping in touch” and “Relationship/ bonds”.
We also compare a few different channels of communication among current cohorts to see what are their strengths and weaknesses. Taking those into consideration, we proceed to shape our key insights. |
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Key Insights
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PROBLEM
GOAL
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who are our persona ? |
We’ve identified two sets of personas. First one is the exec of Grid110, the group who’s most in need of alleviation of their heavy workload; second is the cohorts/founders who is in needs of trustworthy resources and network building through Grid110.
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Introducing... |
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Discovery Dash is an integrated dashboard for assisting on boarding process, resource and network search for cohorts/entrepreneurs.
Grid110 execs and cohorts can create profiles through a step-by-step on boarding process. Through this process, metadata gets generated with the help of A.I. technology, and visualized as tags on profiles. It ultimately helped cohorts/entrepreneurs find the expertise they need to amplify their business. Cohort is also able to search within the cohort network and curate their own network list within their profile to begin building their trusted business network within Grid110. We decided to keep part of the communication pathway familiar, such as email verification. It not only allows cohorts to verify their findings with the trusted expert opinion from Grid110 execs, but also minimized the time and workload for the execs on personal introductions. |
Location of Discovery Dash within their current navigation.
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Ultilizing UX methodology like the MOSCOW method, we prioritized what features to include for this MVP. We also looked at how Discovery Dash is going to integrate into the existing Site Map, and how our new User Flow would look like from the Onboarding process to the interaction between Grid110 execs and cohorts.
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crafting a happy path |
This is how Discovery Dash will help amplify the digital user experience of Grid110. We utilized metadata and SEO to help cohort search resources within the Grid110 network. Instead of execs doing all the searching, we provide enough help so cohorts can do it on their own.
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visualizing on paper |
We created a few sets of sketches in order to validate our concept through usability testing. What we found was CTA needs to be call out clearly during the early phase of deployment, and a progress bar will help ease user through the on boarding process.
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Our Focus
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With our goal in mind, we focused on a few features that will replace the heavy lifting for the Grid110 execs, yet remain the familiarity within communication.
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design within a system |
Base on an early style guide our client gave us, we added in and curated logo, buttons, tags accordingly. We suggest to introduce Golden Hour from their early palette into their existing site to bring in a splash of California sunset. We use it to highlight the gives and gets in the on boarding process, and category titles within profile pages.
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finalizing the details |
Bringing all the information together, we laid the bricks down in pixels in order to create the high fidelity wireframe and prototype. We separate them into two portions:
• On boarding • Networking and Management |
View the experience
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Take a look at this high fidelity user flow video on how Cohort member, Alexis, and Grid110 Execs, Nina, interact within Grid110's Discovery Dash.
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